PLAYED AT: Vaillant ArenaDate: Dec 30, 2016GAME NOTES: THREE POINTS FROM POULIOT SEND CANADA TO SPENGLER FINAL
JASON LA ROSE
DAVOS, Switzerland – Marc-Antoine Pouliot (Quebec City, Que./EHC Biel-Bienne, NLA) scored a goal and set up two others, leading Canada’s National Men’s Team back to the championship game at the Spengler Cup with a 3-2 semifinal win over HC Dinamo Minsk on Friday.
Canada will defend its 2015 title against the winner of the HC Davos-HC Lugano semifinal in the final on Saturday (6 a.m. ET/3 a.m. PT, TSN1/4).
It will be the 21st championship game appearance for the Canadians, who are in search of their 14th title.
Chris DiDomenico (Woodbridge, Ont./SCL Tigers, NLA) and Chay Genoway (Morden, Man./Jokerit Helsinki, KHL) had the other goals for Canada, which avenged a 7-4 loss to Minsk in the tournament opener for both on Monday.
The Canadians dominated the first period, outshooting Minsk 21-5, thanks in large part to five power-play opportunities in the opening 20 minutes.
Pouliot got the scoring started with his first goal of the tournament at 7:07, taking a no-look, behind-the-back pass from Jacob Micflikier (Winnipeg, Man./EHC Biel-Bienne, NLA) and roofing a shot over the shoulder of Minsk goaltender Ben Scrivens.
DiDomenico doubled the lead on the power play seven minutes later; he gathered in the rebound of a Maxim Noreau (Montreal, Que./SC Bern, NLA) shot and tried to feed the puck back in front of the net, only for it to hit a Minsk defender and elude Scrivens.
The KHL side enjoyed a long five-on-three to start the second period, and got one goal back when Andrei Stepanov used a Canadian as a screen before rifling a wrist shot over the blocker of netminder Zach Fucale (Rosemère, Que,/Brampton, ECHL), who finished with 21 saves.
Both teams traded chances through the second period and early in the third, before the Canadians finally added a little bit of insurance midway through the final frame.
Pouliot kept the puck on a two-on-one before a loose puck squirted to Genoway, who hammered a slap shot through two Minsk skaters and Scrivens for the 3-1 goal at 12:29.
That would end up as the game-winner after Matt Ellison – who won the Spengler Cup with Canada last year – converted on a five-on-three for Minsk to make it a one-goal game again with 4:44 remaining.
The Belarus-based team swarmed the Canadian net with Scrivens on the bench for an extra attacker in the dying minutes, and Rob Klinkhammer hit the post behind Fucale with less than 10 seconds left, but Canada held on to advance.

Visiting Team: Canada

Home Team: HC Dinamo Minsk

CANADA LINEUP

Pos

No.

Name

G

1

MacIntyre, Drew

G

30

Fucale, Zach

3

Gormley, Brandon

4

Genoway, Colby

5

Genoway, Chay

7

Parlett, Blake

11

Campbell, Gregory

16

Spaling, Nick

19

Ebbett, Andrew

21

Raymond, Mason

23

Katic, Mark

25

Emmerton, Cory

26

Heshka, Shaun

36

Flood, Mark

40

Paré, Francis

42

McIntyre, David

55

Vukovic, Daniel

56

Noreau, Maxim

71

Micflikier, Jacob

78

Pouliot, Marc-Antoine

88

Sheppard, James

89

DiDomenico, Chris

CANADA PENALTIES

Per.

No.

Min

Offence

Off

PP

PS

Start

On

1st

36

2:00

Slashing

19:25

1

19:25

1:25

1st

25

2:00

Tripping

19:50

1

19:50

1:50

2nd

88

2:00

Slashing

12:45

1

12:45

14:45

3rd

78

2:00

Hooking

4:03

1

4:03

6:03

3rd

40

2:00

Tripping

13:29

1

13:29

15:29

3rd

26

2:00

Hit to the Head

14:27

1

14:27

16:27

3rd

26

10:00

10-Minute Misconduct

14:27

14:27

20:00

HC DINAMO MINSK LINEUP

Pos

No.

Name

G

30

Scrivens, Ben

G

35

Lalande, Kevin

G

69

Karnaukhov, Mikhail

2

Gotovets, Kirill

5

Mitskevich, Nikita

8

Shinkevich, Ilya

9

Pettersson, Fredrik

10

Ellison, Matt

11

Kulakov, Alexander

12

Klinkhammer, Rob

13

Drozd, Sergei

14

Lisovets, Evgeny

15

Ambrozheichik, Dmitry

17

Gragnani, Marc-Andre

18

Khenkel, Kristian

19

Komarov, Nikita

22

Karaban, Danila

23

Stas, Andrei

24

Korobov, Dmitry

28

Materukhin, Alexander

55

Bailen, Nick

61

Stepanov, Andrei

68

Kazakevich, Pavel

71

Pavlovic, Alexander

73

Znakharenko, Dmitry

74

Kostitsyn, Sergei

77

Kitarov, Alexander

81

Lopachuk, Stanislav

85

Volkov, Artyom

88

Kovyrshin, Evgeny

91

Gavrus, Artur

92

Graborenko, Roman

HC DINAMO MINSK PENALTIES

Per.

No.

Min

Offence

Off

PP

PS

Start

On

1st

18

2:00

Interference

2:03

1

2:03

4:03

1st

92

2:00

Hit to the Head

11:09

1

11:09

13:09

1st

92

10:00

10-Minute Misconduct

11:09

11:09

1:09

1st

24

2:00

Boarding

12:43

1

12:43

14:43

1st

30

2:00

Unsportsmanlike Conduct

12:43

1

12:43

14:43

1st

14

2:00

Holding

16:47

1

16:47

18:47

2nd

28

2:00

Interference

4:58

1

4:58

6:58

2nd

30

2:00

Delay of Game

18:06

1

18:06

0:06

3rd

92

2:00

Hooking

8:37

1

8:37

10:37

CANADA Goals

CANADA PLAYERS (plus)

HC DINAMO MINSK PLAYERS (minus)

Per.

Time

G-As1-As2

1st

7:07

78-71

1st

14:03

PP

89-56-78

3rd

12:29

5-78

HC DINAMO MINSK Goals

HC DINAMO MINSK PLAYERS (plus)

CANADA PLAYERS (minus)

Per.

Time

G-As1-As2

2nd

1:43

PP

61-9

3rd

15:16

PP

10-24-88

POWER PLAY OPPORTUNITIES

CANADA

1 / 8

HC DINAMO MINSK

2 / 6

PENALTY SUMMARY

CANADA

22 min / 7 inf

HC DINAMO MINSK

26 min / 9 inf

POINT SUMMARY

CANADA

3 G + 4 A = 7 Pts

HC DINAMO MINSK

2 G + 3 A = 5 Pts

SCORING

1

2

3

Total

CANADA

2

0

1

3

HC DINAMO MINSK

0

1

1

2

GOALTENDER/SAVES (Time)

1

2

3

Tot.

On

Off

CAN - Fucale (60:00) (W)

5

10

6

21

/0:00

3rd/20:00

MIN - Scrivens (58:14) (L)

19

6

9

34

/0:00

3rd/18:14

Stars of the Game

TIME OF GAME:

-

Start:

-

End:

-

Attendance:

OFFICIALS

Referee:

Referee:

Linesman:

Linesman:

CERTIFIED CORRECT

This report has been checked and verified against the Official Spengler Cup Game Report.